Dec 2012 - Focus Minerals Ltd

With the 82% takeover of Crescent Gold, Focus Minerals (FML) now has two operational centres at Coolgardie and Laverton that are aiming to produce >200,000ozpa for at least 10 years. FML has identified a company-making "game changer" at each of its operations that potentially has the capability to initially supply >50% (possibly even >70%) of the mill feed for at least 5 years, namely Dreadnought at Coolgardie and Burtville at Laverton.

A re-appraisal of Coolgardie's numerous historic mine-workings has identified a number of "new" near mine targets that have already produced encouraging exploration results, such as Bayleys / Prices, while the open-cut mining of Dreadnought and Big Blow have transformed the understanding of them.

Although Dreadnought may resemble Alacer's Trident mine at Higginsville, it is the number of intersecting shear zones and possible extensions in almost all directions from the current pit (especially NE and SW) that indicate the potential for a significantly larger open-cut, and the mainstay of the Coolgardie operations, as the underground operations (currently at Tindals) temporarily wind down.

Significant cost reductions have and are being made at Laverton, resulting from experienced managerial changes, along with a focused review of Laverton's operational capability and exploration upside potential. As the main Apollo open-cut ends by December 2012, Burtville is expected to be re-opened and extended for possibly a > 4 to 5 year-life, while delineating the upside capabilities of Barnicoat, Euro and Telegraph.

The $227.5m placement of 4.55bn shares @ A$0.05 to Shandong Gold International (a 65% subsidiary of Shandong Gold Group Ltd, which owns 56.4% of Shandong Gold Mines that produces almost 1mozpa gold with a market cap of ~$9bn), means that Focus can have its own plant at Laverton and realise the upside potential in both Coolgardie and Laverton